28.2.07

so much to say, so little time

Two presentations in a day...and then it's all over bar the dancing. Let me continue the PTSD adventures in BNC:

1. My 8.30am panel had more people and more discussion than my panel in the arvo. The panel in the arvo only had three panellists but two discussants.

2. For once, in the afternoon panel, I politely listened to what my discussant had to say and then told them "oh, that was a fantastic reading. But, of course, totally wrong".* That sound? Potential jobs flying out the window.

3. The Doctor as a phallic figure who orders things in the world while women are saved by him. How utterly amusing is that reading?

4. Coffee shop etiquette: someone with more battery power than mine actually gave up their outlet space so I could plug my computer in.

5. Catching up with people I met at last year's ISA. Planning future mischief.

6. Seconding E on the whole "who chooses these hotels w/o free wireless?" view. Who does? Even grumpy old folks probably use wireless, right? Or, maybe, they just don't care about the cost. That's probably it.

7. The place itself is not too postgrad student-friendly. Not at all.

8. At least the weather is living up to it's "windy city" rep.

9. It's only 5.32pm. Who knows what else awaits tonight? I'm planning on exploring this city, now that I'm done with proper ISA-ing. Though I admit to being wary of the talkativeness of Midwesterners.**

"So, ultimately, in order to understand nature it may be necessary to have a deeper understanding of mathematical relationships. But the real reason is that the subject is enjoyable, and although we humans cut nature up in different ways, and we have different courses in different departments, such compartmentalization is really artificial, and we should take our intellectual pleasures where we find them."